wrestlingscout's media reviews. From books and documentaries to shoot interviews and matches, I'll review the best (and sometimes the worst) that pro-wrestling has to offer.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Ted DiBiase [RF Video Shoot Interview]

The Good
I have heard Ted DiBiase interviewed so many times and that I'm almost uninterested in him, not to mention his two autobiographies and WWE documentary. He is well-spoken and thoughtful as you'd hope an ordained minister and public speaker to be. This is an early RF Video shoot, conducting in a bank where Mrs. DiBiase works and it is full of crops and cuts (unlike many RF shoots). While I balk at Feinstein's lack of knowledge of history, he followed Mid-South/UWF as a child as well as the WWF, so he has a good grasp of the personalities that DiBiase came into contact with. Never one to be overly political or reserved in his comments, DiBiase is very honest and that boosts the quality of this. He can say that Bill Watts was a "bully," that Robert Fuller was a poor booker or that Michael Hayes was "stiff" and he does not come across as angry or bitter. I often find RF Video shoots with nice guys who like everybody or non-storytellers to be boring, but Ted DiBiase can talk and talk. If you've never heard him before, this is definitely a must-see and if you've seen/heard him a few times or even a bazillion times, I'd still highly recommend this one. A major reason being that since he and his sons began working for the WWE, he's never been as objective and opinionated about the company…go figure.

The Bad
Ted DiBiase had such a full and successful career that he could literally spend hour after hour talking about his career and never run out of fresh stories, recollections and insight. Unfortunately, his faith (which spreading the Gospel is central tenant) often cuts into any interview he does. While it is important to him now and where he is in his life, few (if any) pursue his shoot interviews for religious purposes. That is often a factor in the shoots of Born-Agains and sometimes it is a bit much and I would say it is about what I expected here. The other factor that colored his two shoots with 57Talk was his time spent as an agent and his sons' employment in the WWE, which led him to really put over the company and prevented him from spending too much time looking back at his early career in Mid-South and Georgia. That was not an issue here, so this shoot was really better than many interviews he has given as of the past few years. What jumped out at me was hearing Ted DiBiase (the conservative Christian) railing against the WWF and the Attitude Era and later hearing Ted DiBiase (the fiscal conservative) railing against regulations on businesses and what he perceives as socialism. I'd rather not get into the inconsistencies I found because if I picked apart political, social and economic statements by pro-wrestlers in their shoots, I'd waste too much time.